Microsoft: We Value The Desktop, It Is The Core Of Windows

A leisurely stroll is a gift, but when you stray too far away voices will be raised. This is what happened with Windows 8 as the technology industry felt that Redmond had forsaken the desktop and gone all out Metro.

This may or may not have been the case, but there is no denying that the good old desktop did not get any notable enhancements with Windows 8, while the Modern UI received all the spotlight.

But it is very obvious that Microsoft is now setting thing straight.

Terry Myerson, the company’s executive vice president of operating systems, in a new interview said that improving the desktop side of the OS in Windows 81. Update was a priority for Redmond.

The reason? How about the fact that it continues to be the most familiar working environment for millions, even billions of users around the globe:

“We actually value using the desktop. I feel highly productive using it. It’s very familiar to me. We plan — (as) we talked about at the Build conference — to bring modern apps to the desktop. We are going to have machines that have a great desktop experience.”

That is not to say the desktop is a one-size-fits-all experience, particularly on mobile devices. And Microsoft is aware of this crucial little fact:

“It (the desktop) is also not the right experience for a phone or a tablet. And so how the Windows experience spans these form factors and is familiar across them — that’s what we need to deliver if we’re going to delight people in the whole ecosystem. The desktop is part of our future. It’s absolutely core to Windows.”

Not that hard to grasp, eh?

Focusing on both environments, desktop and touch, is absolutely the way forward. Windows 8.1 Update already offers a few neat improvements for mouse and keyboard users, and this convergence is only set to grow once Windows 9 makes its way to the market.